ximion
"<summary>" length limit?
Hello,
this is about the <summary> tag.
The docu doesn't tell about a length limit. Is there a length limit but not documented? Or isn't there one?
The background of my question is that the Debian build system tells me the current content is to long. But it doesn't tell me about the limit (Debian#1078593).
EDIT: Might this be the line to improve the error message and give more details about the allowed limit? https://github.com/ximion/appstream/blob/373ecb59cb2701628096ff09b5864f9767c0d949/src/as-validator-issue-tag.h#L529
EDIT2: The limit seems to be 90. Am I right? https://github.com/ximion/appstream/blob/373ecb59cb2701628096ff09b5864f9767c0d949/src/as-validator.c#L3215
The docs says:
Warnings warn about likely unintended behavior, typing errors or issues which might cause data to not be displayed or improperly read.
So it seems like this is not a strict limit. Just the tool trying to be helpful, telling you it might not be displayed properly everywhere.
Places that use appstream data could have their own more strict recommendations/requirements. For example flathub recommends that the summary should be no more than 35 characters and that the name should be no more than 20 characters.
Makes sense but cause to much confusion. If there is no strict limit on your site don't warn.
Another way would be to make the limit configurable so that "users" like flathub or Debian can add their concrete limit. In my case my Debian package as an AppStream warning and I do take this serious. Ignoring a warning is useless.
Maybe you should give Debian the ability to set a strict character limit for the fields.
But I also recommend again to be more clear in this warning message. Based on your codebase there seems to be a limit. Name that value in the warning message.
Another way would be to make the limit configurable so that "users" like flathub or Debian can add their concrete limit.
The flathub warning is designed to be a warning and non fatal. That's no accident.
But please name the limit. Give the users a number in that warning. Otherwise they are not able to fix it.